Stupid Ox
by Eimin - The Eternal Sleep
Summary: Hatsuharu Sohma, the cool, calm, sweet soul; whenever he is White. Can he give up the girl he loves to save her? Basically, this is a story based on the idea of what would happen if Haru was thrown out of the window instead of Rin. HaruxRin


**Right, everyone. I was struck by sudden inspiration and this is what came out of it. This is HaruxRin, so be amazed!**

**So, Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**Enjoy! :)**

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It was mid-afternoon when Hatsuharu Sohma received the order to go to Akito, his God, as soon as possible. He was sat with both Momiji and Hatori, after being found by the latter wandering the streets in an aimless fashion once again. Warmth seemed to radiate throughout the room as the little Rabbit of the Zodiac held the floor with a one-sided conversation about his last visit to Shigure's house. Smiling softly, Hatsuharu listened patiently to the other's rambling, nodding and making sounds of affirmation every so often. As usual, the Dragon remained quiet and stoic, though Haru thought that he could see something akin to happiness shining in the male's one good eye.

All that warmth, all that joy, was shattered by the entrance of one of the Main Household's servants. Opening the door with a shifting whisper, the woman peered inside at the small gathering of the God's animals and gave a nervous, feigned smile. "Hatori-sensei, Akito-sama is arguing that he does not need a check-up today. "However," she murmured, shifting her gaze towards Hatsuharu. "He would like to see Hatsuharu-san _immediately_."

Hatori blinked slowly, his gaze shifting towards Hatsuharu, betraying his emotions with one brief flash of worry. Instinctively, Haru swallowed, a spasmodic movement of the throat, and nodded silently, moving towards the servant. As he moved past Hatori, the Dragon placed a hand on his arm, a motion obviously meant as both comfort and a warning to restrain himself from doing anything rash. "Keep calm, Hatsuharu."

Nodding slightly, Haru shrugged off the older Juunishi's hand and moved past him, momentarily ruffling Momiji's hair in an attempt to disperse some of the fear in the Rabbit's expression. The servant bowed to him as he approached her, leading him out of the room and down the hallway towards Akito's own private quarters. Haru bit his lip, feeling a steadily growing knot of irritation rolling in his gut at being led around his own home like the _stupid Ox_ that everybody seemed to think he was. Still, he managed to hold back the remark as he followed the woman towards the large, darkened room, isolated from the rest of the house. "Akito will see you now, Hatsuharu-san."

"Thank you," Hatsuharu nodded towards the woman as he took a tentative step into the daemon's lair.

The young, sickly Goddess stood by the window, her index finger flexed outwards towards the Heavens, tempting the small, inquisitive birds towards her in a peaceful, relaxed manner. Even as Haru pushed the sliding door closed behind him, sealing his own fate irrevocably, she still refused to turn, instead opting to merely greet him in her dark, haunting, _beautiful _whisper. "Hello, my headstrong, _stupid_ Ox. _My_ Hatsuharu…" Her casual use of the possessive made the Spirit deep inside Hatsuharu's mind tremble in both terror and longing, even as Hatsuharu himself shuddered in indignation and barely-concealed rage at her description of him.

"Akito," he muttered reluctantly, taking a step into the foreboding room. His shale-coloured eyes drifted towards the door at the right side of the room, imagining blood soaking its pristine surface, the blood of a small, innocent, confused child. It was Yuki's room. The room which Akito kept just for torturing the frail, helpless Rat. Haru cringed and turned back towards the slender form of his God, his body naturally sinking to the floor, pulling his knees underneath himself in the traditional _seiza _position. Haru lowered his head slightly, pure white strands falling onto his forehead, obscuring his darkening eyes.

Turning leisurely, Akito took in Haru's position, kneeling on the floor, and gave a thin, cruel little smile, shuffling gracefully towards her own beautiful Ox. She could scarcely believe that such a slow, dull-witted creature had managed to keep such a _disgusting _secret from her for so long. Slowly, her smile widened viciously, revealing small, even teeth. Again, the spirit inside Hatsuharu quaked in dread, but this time the young male heeded its call, his own mind fearing the malicious intent in Akito's eyes.

Akito stopped in front of _her_ Ox, her dark _hakama_ billowing around her, making her look all the more dangerous and ethereal. Kneeling besides Hatsuharu, she placed a frail, possessive hand on his cheek, turning his face towards her own with a deceptive amount of gentleness. His stormy eyes caught the light and reflected it oddly as he looked towards her, causing his pupils to look smaller and denser than what was natural. Smiling, she stroked his cheek lightly with long, soothing motions. "Do you know why you are here, Hatsuharu?"

Hatsuharu continued to watch the young Goddess blankly, his eyes shimmering with confusion and, Akito thought, a little bit of… apprehension. After a few seconds, Akito's smile morphed into a condescending smirk. "You don't, do you? Oh, my dense little Ox; how could you have so _stupid_?" Hatsuharu's eyes darkened further, his expression contorting slightly into the darker side of his personality at Akito's callous insults. The young Goddess smirked wider in delight at his fury. "How could you have possibly thought that you could have kept such a _shameful_ secret from your God, Hatsuharu? Hm?" Abruptly, the young man's face paled to almost the same shade as his hair and Akito knew that the rumour she had heard had been the absolute truth. Her grip on Haru's cheek tightened with anger and drew bright red blood to deep crescent-moon wounds; created by her nails sinking into his flesh harshly. Hatsuharu watched her actions in horror, his grey eyes trapped somewhere between both his Black personality and his White, his form shaking slightly with a mixture of fury and fear.

Akito flung him away from her. "Why, Hatsuharu?" She screamed as he collided harshly with the wall, a trickle of blood seeping from his temples. Grunting softly in pain, Hatsuharu remained silent, faced with his God. '_Rin… Isuzu…_' His thoughts echoed longingly, as he looked at Akito with a venomous glare. Stomping her foot childishly, the Goddess once again repeated her question. "Why?"

"Because… I love her…" Haru murmured quietly, touching the back of his head gingerly and wincing as his fingers came away red. Akito froze, watching the Ox with disbelieving, horrified eyes. After a few moments, the volatile female snapped, rushing forwards and grabbing Haru by the front of his sheer black shirt. Unable to lift the considerably heavier male to his feet, the fragile deity settled for backhanding him sharply across the face, revelling in the pained whimper her rash actions produced.

"You. Only. Love Me!" She growled, punctuating each word with another savage slap to his face, her frail chest heaving with her physical exertion. "Not that slut, with her skimpy clothes and her long hair and her sharp, sharp tongue for _hurting_ you with!" Haru groaned his protest to her words, her furious tones sapping at his resolve. Already, the spirit inside him begged for him to crawl towards Akito, to sob and to beg for forgiveness. A broken sob emitted from her lips as she sank down next to Hatsuharu. "Why do you all want to leave me? Others, out there in the world, will shun you. They will hurt you for being what you are. But I never will. I _love_ you…" Trailing off, she hiccupped softly and stared at him with desperately sad eyes, still retaining the inner anger within them.

Gulping softly, Haru used the last of his resolve to softly shake his head. "Don't speak about Rin that way," he snarled softly, his eyes not yet making the transition to Black; the primal fear keeping him restrained.

Again, Akito's face contorted in fury. "How dare you? How dare you tell me what to do? You idiotic creature. You are nothing without me. Nothing more than just an animal, kept happy at my whim!" Her voice escalated hysterically as her hand tightened on the fabric of his shirt desperately, pressing the dagger-shaped necklace into his skin, drawing blood. Haru winced and tried to move away, hating the leashed feeling of the deity's hand wrapped harshly tight around his shirt, leaking possessiveness. Raising her cobalt eyes to his own shale orbs, Akito released a small whimper and lifted her other hand to his face, tracing the flaming mark of her hand imprinted on his face like a brand. "There…" She smiled oddly, tapping the mark weakly. "You're mine now."

Flinching slightly at her cold touch, he backed away from her slowly, handicapped by her hand wrapped desperately around his shirt. He couldn't bring himself to brush her hold away. "No, Akito… I love Rin… I belong to her and her to me." He spoke with absolute conviction, though his heart and mind were achingly terrified at what was going to happen to him. Nevertheless, if Rin was safe, it would all be worth it. Lifting his chin slightly, Haru's dark eyes challenged those of God.

Surprisingly, Akito smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Hatsuharu…" She crooned. "Oh, Hatsuharu, will you never learn? You are so dense. Can't you tell that if you don't renounced your love for her, and come back to me, then she will be my next target. And remember; I don't care for her as I do you, my beloved Ox." His blood went cold within his body, and he stared at Akito desperately, imploringly.

"A-Akito… Don't…"

Akito's smile stretched obscenely, making her sickly-pale skin adopt a sinister quality. She wrapped her arms possessively around him, pulling the unique Zodiac male into her embrace, feeling a flash of satisfaction as his arms moved to grip brokenly at the back of her _hakama_, knotting the fabric into his hands. "My Hatsuharu," she trilled, her voice deceptively innocent and childlike once more. "Correct?"

Hatsuharu sighed deeply; the bull-headed stubbornness which he was so famous for would serve his worn body no longer. "Yes, A-Akito…" His eyes closed, feeling blood drip heavily from his cut lip.

Abruptly, Hatsuharu gasped and attempted to cringe away as he felt a sharp stinging pain in the region of his left shoulder blade. "Akito!"

Grinning, Akito pushed the knife deeper into his skin. "Stay still!" She commanded, scrawling the three symbols of her name into his skin with a sort of sadistic enjoyment. Hatsuharu struggled again, fear-filled, growling. "Stay STILL!" When Haru continued to protest and struggle, his curses half-formed as he finally made the swift transition to his Black personality, Akito yelled out wordlessly and drove her elbow into his chest, cutting off his protests in a choked scream. Hearing a crack, she smirked viciously and finished cutting her name into his skin whilst his mind was too distracted by the pain to notice. Once she had finished, she cooed. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" She chuckled softly at the vehement glare he sent in her direction.

Suddenly, the Ox stood up and swore at her, pinning her small frame to the wall as his chest heaved in agony around his broken rib. His pupils dilated in anger, he sneered at her. "Don't think this is over, Akito. I won't let you hurt her."

"I've already hurt her, by hurting you," Akito stated, not giving the Ox time to register what she had said before she violently pushed at him with all her strength at the weakest part of his body, his collarbone. Surprised at this sudden show of physical exertion, Hatsuharu stumbled backwards, towards the ominous light of the window. With a final, wild, vindictive shove, his vengeful Goddess forced him to lose his balance once again, sending his lithe frame tumbling ungainly out of the window. He was too surprised to scream.

Landing on grass was an unforeseen blessing. Although, in his current state of shock, Haru doubted he would have felt anything even if he had fallen on rough concrete, he was still grateful. His eyesight swam hazily, everything seemed so displaced. He was confused; he felt sick. Trying to stand, his legs and arms barely twitched. Looking towards his limbs, he frowned in faint annoyance at the lack of reaction, his change in expression tempting a stab of agony. He cringed in pain. But then, everything got worse.

"H-Haru-nii!" A frightened voice cried out and Haru felt his heart sink. Not Kisa. She didn't deserve to see her honorary brother in such a state. She was only just speaking. Not this. Not _this_. Why couldn't Hatori have found him?

Haru wanted to stand up, to assure the poor terrified Tiger that everything was alright. All he could manage to choke out was a strangled, "_K-Kiiiiisaa…"_ His eyes blinking up at her tiny form dizzily, his pupils returning to a more reasonable size as he made the transition back to White.

Her blurred hands raised to cover her mouth as her eyes grew wide with horror. "Oh, God! Haru-nii!" She sobbed brokenly, her crystalline tears spilling over as she fell to her knees beside him, running her fingers gently through his hair, matted a light pink with blood. Haru attempted a smile, though by the expression on her face he assumed that he was unsuccessful. Raising her head, she yelled out a desperate, strangled shriek of: "HELP!"

Haru blinked slowly, lazily. He slipped into unconscious just as Hatori's worried, wan face came into view.


End file.
